Mercosur

• Wednesday, June 21st 2006 - 21:00 UTC

  Bolivia's Morales targets private energy and mines

  Bolivian president Evo Morales plans to restore control over companies which at one time belonged to the government, but a decision regarding railways (half Chilean, half private Bolivian) plus telecommunications will be delayed.

• Wednesday, June 21st 2006 - 21:00 UTC

  New currency with three zeros less for Venezuela

  Venezuela will introduce a new national currency that would knock three zeroes off the exchange value and could be renamed the “Nuevo Bolivar”.

• Tuesday, June 20th 2006 - 21:00 UTC

  Fears that IWC might become a “whalers' club”

  A nonbinding declaration critical of the 1982 decision to impose a moratorium on commercial whaling was approved by a 33-32 vote Sunday at a meeting of the International Whaling Commission in the Caribbean island of St Kitts.

• Tuesday, June 20th 2006 - 21:00 UTC

  Chile/Peru alliance to face “Asian challenge”

  Chile praised Peruvian elected president Alan Garcia and proposed both countries team up to do business and jointly addresses the “Asian challenge”.

• Tuesday, June 20th 2006 - 21:00 UTC

  Judge approves sale of Varig to employees

  A Brazilian bankruptcy judge approved on Monday an offer by an employee-led group to buy Varig, Brazil's flag air carrier after getting guarantees the buyers have enough money to finance the transaction.

• Tuesday, June 20th 2006 - 21:00 UTC

  LAN Argentina non-stop flight to USA

  LAN Argentina announced that it will begin operating the Miami-Buenos Aires route on August 15, 2006, with a non-stop flight that departs from Ezeiza airport in Buenos Aires at 10:15 p.m. and arrives at Miami International Airport at 6:05 a.m. the following morning.

• Tuesday, June 20th 2006 - 21:00 UTC

  Argentine fishing company pleads guilty

  Estremar SA, an Argentine company formerly known as ASC South America SA, last week pleaded guilty to violating federal anti-fish and wildlife trafficking law by importing and attempting to sell Patagonian toothfish, often marketed by the trade name Chilean seabass, without the documentation required to show it was legally harvested.

• Tuesday, June 20th 2006 - 21:00 UTC

  Kirchner of business trip to Spain

  Argentine president Nestor Kirchner begins Wednesday an official visit to Spain expected to the dominated by business discussions.

• Tuesday, June 20th 2006 - 21:00 UTC

  EU admits “slight room” for concessions in trade talks

  The European Union's Agriculture Commissioner said the EU still had ??slight room'' to offer more concessions in key world trade talks if others, notably the United States, were also ready to compromise more to open up agricultural markets.

• Tuesday, June 20th 2006 - 21:00 UTC

  Number of millionaires jumped to 8.7 million in 2005

  The number of millionaires around the world rose to 8.7 million over the past year, fueled by a sharp increase in emerging markets such as South Korea, India and Russia, showed a survey released this week.